Greenland Tourism Newsletter 4, 1995
Travel news from Greenland
Published November 1995
This information is provided by Greenland Tourism a/s, the official tourist board of Greenland
Canada Sales Drive
Greenland at the World Travel Market '96
SAS' Friday evening flights to be repeated in 1996
New base camps and cabins in eastern Greenland
Greenland on the international big screen
A different feeling for snow
A runaway success
Santa Summit '95
Did you know...
New holiday paradise on the Godthåb Fjord
Festival of Art and Music in southern Greenland
Greenland on the Internet
New video about dog-sled holidays
The Vestnorden Travel Mart held recently in the Faroe Islands was well organised and highly successful. There was a great deal of serious interest in Greenland, and we made a number of new deals.
The figures for the 1995 season so far show yet another increase, and there are signs that the number of visitors will have risen from 10,000 in 1994 to 14,000 this year. The greatest rise, not least in the number of MIC visitors, has occurred in the Disko Bay area and in Ilulissat and Uummannaq further north.
The future looks promising. Two well-known but very different figures look set to put Greenland even more firmly on the map.The first is Santa Claus with the many seasonal activities which will take place in the weeks leading up to the festive season, and the second is the film director Bille August. He will be starting work on the screen adaptation of Peter Høeg's bestseller 'Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow' in the spring. Both events will focus the attention of the international media on Greenland, and provide a unique and invaluable opportunity for the country's tourism industry. The challenge for the future will be to develop high quality tourism products in the areas in which Greenland excels. We need to concentrate on activities which take full advantage of the inland ice, snow and icebergs, as well as dog-sled trips and our local Inuit culture which cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
All in all, we have a broad and exciting range of new initiatives to tackle as we prepare for the 1996 season.
Kim Folmann Jørgensen
Director
Greenland Tourism a/s
Canada sales drive
Grønlandsfly and First Air have expanded their service to Toronto/Ottawa to two departures a week, initially for the period January to Easter 1996. The two airlines have also struck a deal with Greenland Tourism a/s regarding a joint sales campaign aimed at travel agencies and tour operators in Canada.
A leaflet, which has been designed for the campaign, highlights two Greenland products developed specifically with the North American market in mind. Grønlands Rejsebureau has set up a tour to Ilulissat, and the Polar Rejser agency is responsible for a similar arrangement in Sisimiut. Both products incorporate dog-sled trips and will be available in March and April.
"The North American market has great growth potential," says Mads Nordlund, Marketing Manager at Grønlandsfly. "We have initially agreed on a joint marketing campaign aimed at the Canadian travel market. Next spring we intend to target tour operators in the States using the knowledge gained from the response we have had in Canada.
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This year, Greenland Tourism a/s will be present at the WTM in London between 13-16 November 1995. Greenland Tourism will be at the stand of the Danmarks Turistråd [Danish Tourist Office] (stand number EM 523). Representatives from Greenland Tourism a/s will be present at the press reception to be held at the stand on 13 November between 10.00-12.00.
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The same-day service between Copenhagen and Kangerlussuaq on Fridays will be available once again in 1996. Between 21 June and 13 September 1996, a Boeing 767 from SAS will leave Kastrup Airport at 20.00, giving tourists from all over Europe the chance to get to Greenland on the day of their departure.
The extra service was first tested during the 1995 season. "I would say that 1995 has been relatively successful, despite the fact that the agreement was reached very late. This unfortunately meant that tour operators and others who arrange trips to Greenland could not make optimal use of the flight," says Leif Petersen, Service Manager at SAS. "The service has now been widely advertised and its continuity guaranteed, and tour operators have begun to see the advantage of the same-day service. I believe the Friday night flights in 1996 have every chance of being a great success.
The deal between SAS and Greenland Tourism a/s aims partly to secure a greater number of seats to Greenland, and partly to give greater flexibility and lower prices, so that tourists who come from outside Denmark can avoid the overnight stay in Copenhagen. According to Leif Petersen, the future of the Greenland flight connections looks extremely promising. "If the number of visitors to Greenland continues to rise, as seems likely at present, there is every chance that we'll introduce another evening flight in the middle of the week. But we have to be sure, of course, that the transport system in Greenland is geared up to cope with this kind of growth, so tourists don't simply end up being stranded in Kangerlussuaq. Bringing about the necessary change in attitude will involve quite a lot of work," concludes Leif Petersen.
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During the 1996 season, 2 sites on the island of Ammassalik will be used to test new base camps consisting of high quality tents and communal kitchen and common room facilities. In addition, work will begin on 3 cabins in spring 1996, to be followed up by another 3 within a year at the outside.
The cabins will be built at the natural winter resting place on Ammassalik, where those travelling by dog sled and snowmobile have traditionally chosen to break their journey. The strategic location close to so many trails makes the cabins the ideal starting point for skiing holidays and dog-sled trips.
"We believe there is great growth potential in the activity holiday area," says Jørgen Lindgreen Hansen, business consultant for Ammassalik municipality. "The new hiking maps with a scale of 1:100,000 which were published in 1995 in Danish, English and German, together with the new accommodation, will enable us to offer visitors on activity holidays and winter trips some very exciting holiday adventures in eastern Greenland. The combination of good hiking maps and cabin/hotel accommodation means that visitors to Ammassalik are ideally equipped for shorter hikes." Jõrgen Lindgreen Hansen develops tourism strategies for eastern Greenland in collaboration with Ammassalik Hotel and Greenland Tourism a/s.
Ammassalik is one of just two towns to be found on the eastern coast of Greenland. The town has been isolated for hundreds of years, and it was only 'discovered' by the Western World some 100 years ago. This has made the town an exotic holiday destination, and a favourite with walkers, climbers and glacier hikers. Visitors arrive here via Iceland, and the hotel in town accommodates a number of tourists every year who stay an average of 3-4 nights. There are also many visitors from Iceland who only come for 1 day to visit the Kulusuk settlement where the airport is located.
"We've got the weather on our side," continues Jørgen Lindgreen Hansen. "The climate in winter is relatively mild for Greenland, and Ammassalik also happens to be a sled dog area. This year, we had visitors who travelled on skis and dog sleds from Kulusuk to Sermiliqaaq with Arctic Adventure. It was a great success which will be repeated during the 1996 season.
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In April 1996, the Oscar-winning director Bille August and his production crew will travel to Ilulissat in central Greenland and to Narsarsuaq in the south. This is where the adaptation of "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" will be shot with the British actress Julia Osmond in the lead. Peter Høeg's novel about the Greenland/Danish woman named Smilla has topped the list of bestsellers in many countries, and the screen adaptation will give even more people a chance to experience Peter Høeg's ice thriller.
Well-known films shot on location often have greater PR value than any travel video, and the extensive international interest in Greenland will have immeasurable value for the country's tourism industry. Films such as 'Roman Holiday', 'The Sound of Music' and 'Dances with Wolves' all led to a marked increase in the number of visitors to the countries in question, and though only part of the action takes place in Greenland, the country's wild nature and unique culture still feature heavily in the novel's many flash-backs.
The main task for Greenland Tourism a/s, and for the tourism industry in Greenland as a whole, will be to ride the PR wave and use the attention focused on Greenland to present the country as one of the top travel destinations for the nineties.
No date has yet been set for the world premiere, but the film is expected to be completed towards the end of 1996 or the beginning of 1997.
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In the days between 16-19 March 1996, the third annual snow sculpture festival will be held in the heart of Nuuk. Thirty tightly compressed snow cubes measuring 3x3x3 metres will be the starting point for the 30 teams of 2-5 competitors who are expected to take part next year. Over a period of 3 days, the square blocks will be transformed into sculptures of all shapes and sizes, which will disappear again when the sun takes hold in earnest.
Competitors include local groups of artists and international snow sculptors who take part in similar festivals in Canada, Japan, the US, Finland, Sweden and Norway - countries close to the Arctic Circle. The transformation from snow to art is an experience in itself, with some 120 snow sculptors working flat out in temperatures of as low as -20C. The unusual creations by the local snow artists give a rare insight into Greenland's mythology, with themes often based on myths and legends. The sculpture garden is beautifully lit in the evenings when visitors are invited to walk amongst the snow figures.
The local design studio in Nuuk is behind the event. In March this year, staff took part in the festival along with the LEGO company and built a LEGO castle 8 metres high and 18 metres long next to the studio. It was an impressive architectural creation, and the largest snow structure ever erected in Greenland. Next year's project for staff at the design studio is still a closely guarded secret.
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A week's riding holiday following the footsteps of the Vikings around the mountains of southern Greenland is a new holiday product developed over the last few years by the Greenland-owned company TEAM ARCTIC. After a test last year, the product finally had to prove itself during the 1995 season.
"Sales of the riding holidays have gone really well," says Kim Bo Petersen, co-owner of TEAM ARCTIC. "All our trips between 1 July and the middle of August have been sold out, and we've only had positive feedback. We had 8-10 participants of all ages on each trip.
"Riding holidays are nothing unusual, but they are new to Greenland and have not before been available amongst the many products on offer. The planning phase has lasted a couple of years, and mapping the many possible routes has taken a long time. But it does mean that we can now offer a unique product with an added dimension of reality and authenticity. It would be difficult to get any closer to the unspoiled nature," says Kim Bo Petersen. Participants stay in tents during the trip and the route, which takes in both valleys and ice fjords, takes the riders all the way to the inland ice.
TEAM ARCTIC has generally chosen to concentrate on products which other companies ignore. This also applies to family trekking holidays and school camps in Kangerlussuaq. TEAM ARCTIC also seeks to develop products that will benefit the local inhabitants.
"The riding holidays give immediate returns to the local sheep farmers in southern Greenland, and that's the type of tourism we want to be involved in," says Kim Bo Petersen. "Next year we hope to double up on the groups, and to have two lots of 8-10 riders. We'd also like to extend the season by a couple of weeks, but that - like so much else in Greenland - will depend on the weather!
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Seventeen Santa Clauses from all corners of the world have just left Ilulissat after the first global Santa Summit held between 27-29 October. There can no longer be any doubt that Greenland is home to the only 'real' Santa Claus.
The comprehensive programme laid on for the first 'Santa Summit' in Ilulissat made the occasion a media event. The 'Santa Games' were a great success, and prizes were given for general presentation, Christmas-tree decorating skills, the distribution of presents, and arrangement of presents under the tree, and not forgetting, of course, the trip down the chimney!
And all that was just a warm-up for the festive season in December, when the attention of the media will be focused on the Santa Claus of Greenland Foundation. Once again, Greenland itself will also be in the spotlight.
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- that the most extensive network of tarmac roads in Greenland can be found in Kangerlussuaq - and that it totals only 70 km
- that the museum dedicated to the famous polar explorer Knud Rasmussen is located in the town of Ilulissat where he was born
- that none of the towns in Greenland are connected by road
- that Grønlandsfly is the only airline in the world that uses helicopters for passenger transport in the civilian sector
- that the people in Greenland eat more ice-creams than almost any other nation in the world
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A new hotel development of 450 m2 is expected to be completed in Kapisillit in August 1996. The hotel will have 10 double rooms and 4 single rooms. There will be a restaurant on the ground floor with seating for 50 people.
Kapisillit is a small settlement with approximately 120 inhabitants some 100 km (5 hours by boat) from Nuuk. The settlement is located at the end of the Godthåb Fjord close to the inland ice and is a favourite destination for anglers. Greenland's only river, which runs by the settlement, is home to large numbers of salmon.
Svend Junge, director of the Godthåb Transportcenter, is the sole investor in the project and is closely involved with tourism which he believes has a bright future in Greenland. "There has long been a need to establish a new destination in Kapisillit where locals from Nuuk and visitors to the town can eat and stay overnight. When the new Culture House in Nuuk is completed, the town will get even more visitors which will bring a need for alternative destinations in the area. Kapisillit is ideally located near the inland ice, close to a calving glacier and a number of Scandinavian ruins, and this will make it an attractive place for visitors. The settlement will also be an ideal base for anglers," says Svend Junge.
Svend Junge has also invested in 10 cabins that will be ready for use in summer/autumn 1996. The cabins are 18-22 m2 and are available for hire on a week or weekend basis.
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The first Greenland/Nordic Festival of Art and Music will be held in Qaqortoq in southern Greenland between 20 June and 4 July 1996, and it promises to be quite a cultural event.
Twenty musicians from Greenland and the Nordic countries will take part in the performances and concerts that form the basis for the festival. Also taking part will be 3-4 sculptors who will carry on with the 'Stone and Man' cultural project in the cliffs around Qaqortoq. A further 4-5 artists will set up exhibitions around the town.
The Greenland artist Aka Høegh will be responsible for the artistic aspects, whilst the musical side will be handled by the musician Rasmus Lyberth.
The Hotel Qaqortoq, Qaqortoq municipality, and the Sulisartut Højskoliat folk high school are behind the arrangements, and aim to hold the festival every two years. "The festival is aimed at both the locals and the tourists," says Per Bringsjord from Sulisartut Højskoliat. "We have created a number of package solutions for tourists in collaboration with Grønlands Rejsebureau. In addition to the cultural events, there are boat trips to the inland ice, trips to the historic Scandinavian ruins, warm springs, lectures about Greenland, visits to a tannery and much more. We have tried hard to create a full and exciting programme which will give tourists an insight into Greenland's nature and culture. We hope to attract 300 visitors, and it is important that we get the product out to the Nordic countries. Naturally, we are very pleased to be working with Grønlands Rejsebureau, Profil Rejser, Prisma Tours in Norway and the Swedish travel company Trivselresor. Together, these companies have the strongest distribution network in Scandinavia," concludes Per Bringsjord.
Further information is available from:
Sulisartut Højskoliat
Box 132
3920 Qaqortoq
Greenland
Tel: + 299 3 84 66
Fax: + 299 3 89 73
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From 1 November 1995, all those who surf the global Internet will be able to get travel information about Greenland at the Internet address below:
http://www.greenland-guide.dk
The 'Greenland Guide' Internet server contains general information from Greenland Tourism a/s, along with more specific information from Greenlandair, the Santa Claus Foundation, Kangerlussuaq Airport, Hotel Arctic, etc.. In just a few seconds, Internet users can click their way to facts about excursions, accommodation and transport in Greenland.
The first pages from Greenland Tourism a/s have already been put onto the Net, and the amount of information available will gradually be increased.
Part of the information material available from Greenland Tourism a/s has already been made available on the Net. This resulted in 400-500 specific requests for further information. This fact, along with the explosive growth in the number of Internet users (the majority of whom are located in Western Europe and North America, which are the two main areas of interest as far as Greenland is concerned), indicate that this method is a cheap and effective way to reach a large group of people, and to increase the level of knowledge and interest in Greenland.
Greenland Tourism's e-mail address is:
greenland.tourism@greennet.gl
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A dog-sled trip is one of the Greenland adventures which always makes a lasting impression on all tourists - regardless of age, nationality and preconceived ideas.
A new video about dog-sled holidays has just been released. Viewers follow a group of 13 visitors of all ages as they make their way north by dog sled from Ilulissat to Uummannaq. On the way, they visit settlements and hunters, are invited to a 'kaffemik', take part in a seal hunt and much more.
The video, which lasts 45 minutes, has been made by the German producer Klaus Kiesewetter. It provides a good introduction to the many possibilities on offer with dog-sled holidays, and will be very useful when dealing with potential visitors to Greenland. The video, which can be used as a lecture aid, can be obtained from:
Klaus Kiesewetter
FR-600 Saltangará
Fax: 298 48 732
Tel: 298 47 501
For further info e-mail Greenland Tourism: tourism@greennet.gl
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